Prevent slipping and grass stains during the ceremony with an outdoor carpet.
The bride and groom can save a lot of money for their marriage with a backyard wedding. Outdoor weddings are very common, especially for spring and summer when venues tend to be booked up anyway. You'll find lots of ways to hold an outdoor wedding and make it look perfect with a little research.
Set Up a Spring Garden
If your wedding is set for spring and you have plenty of time to prepare, consider planting a garden and decorative plants. Make up a map of your backyard and design the garden layout. Start a green walkway lined with lilies and tulips for the bridal party during the ceremony. Build an archway of white lattice and train yellow trumpet along it for the minister to stand under during the ceremony. Large patches of amaryllis, tulips, lilies, zinnias, sweet peas and peony add to the garden atmosphere.
Create a Hot Hawaiian Luau
Turn that backyard into a tropical paradise with a Hawaiian luau theme. Hold the ceremony and reception toward evening during the warm months. Guests are invited to come in casual summer wear and Hawaiian shirts. The bride can walk down the aisle in a light decorative summer wrap with a bouquet of tropical flowers, such as bird of paradise, hibiscus and ginger. Hand out leis as wedding favors. Set up tiki torches and string Chinese lamps around the party area. After the ceremony, at sundown, open up a roasting pit replete with roast pork, poi poi, sweet potatoes and seafood.
Backyard Barbecue Wedding
Get tons of guests to show up at your backyard wedding with a barbecue theme. Make this casual or formal, but casual means there is less chance of ruining nice clothing with barbecue sauce. Have a caterer or local BBQ restaurant set up a big smoker grill and start cooking. Bring in rows of picnic tables with checkerboard tablecloths and serve peanuts in the shell as appetizers. A couple of covered picnic tables serve as the gift table on one side of the backyard, while a couple more on the other side serve as the buffet for all the fixings. Hold a simple ceremony, take pictures and turn on the country western music.
Simple, Classic Ceremony
It's possible to hold a traditional wedding in the backyard. You'll need folding white chairs, red outdoor carpet, a lattice archway, small round tables and lots of white and pastel colors. Everyone comes in formal black and off-white, since only the bride should wear white. The groom is in a tux, and the bride wears a traditional wedding dress. Prevent grass stains by shortening the shirt of the wedding gown to just above the ankle.
Tags: during ceremony, backyard wedding, grass stains, outdoor carpet, picnic tables, traditional wedding